Publications

Keywords: Law; Internet and the Web; Sales; Arts

July 2020 (Revised July 2023)
Case

Live Nation and Pharrell Williams

By: Anita Elberse and Kate Christensen

“We’re in business together, and whether we lose a few million dollars or make a few million dollars, let’s do this. If you think you can pull it off, I’m behind you.” Michael Rapino, chief executive officer of Live Nation, the world’s leading live entertainment... View Details

Keywords: Music; Entertainment; Superstars; Talent; Labor Economics; General Management; Music Entertainment; Media; Talent and Talent Management; Joint Ventures; Marketing; Strategy; Music Industry

16 May 2018
News

Spotify's 'Hateful Conduct' Policy Drags The Music Industry Into The #MeToo Moment

Sep 2009 - 2009
Conference Presentation

Bye Bye Bundles: The Impact of the Unbundling of Music in Digital Channels

Keywords: Arts; Technology

October 2015
Case

BandPage (A)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Colin Maclay and Greta Friar

BandPage CEO James "J" Sider is about to receive results from BandPage's targeted advertising campaign on music streaming service Rhapsody and learn whether BandPage's strategy to improve ad click through rates and generate revenue has succeeded. BandPage, which began... View Details

Keywords: Digital Innovation; Digital Music; Digital Marketing; Mobile Marketing; Technological Innovation; Marketing Communications; Music Entertainment; Mobile Technology; Music Industry

17 Oct 2013
News

Author Anita Elberse On Music 'Blockbusters,' Bundling Lady Gaga's 'Artpop' With Her Book (Q&A)

Jun 2009 - 2009
Conference Presentation

Bye Bye Bundles: The Impact of the Unbundling of Music in Digital Channels

Keywords: Arts; Technology

May 2009
Conference Presentation

Bye Bye Bundles: The Impact of the Unbundling of Music in Digital Channels

Keywords: Arts; Technology

31 May 2021
News

Lossless Apple Music and No Winner in Epic Trial - Apple's May 2021 in Review

April 2017
Teaching Note

The Birth, Life and Death of Rdio

By: Robert J. Dolan

Teaching Note for HBS No. 516-092. View Details

Keywords: Digital Music; Marketing

13 Oct 2013
News

The Big Business of Big Hits: How Blockbusters Conquered Movies, TV, and Music

March 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Paul A. Gompers and Scott Duke Kominers

Silkroad—a cross-cultural music collaboration that world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma had spearheaded since 1998, was preparing to celebrate its 20th anniversary. In parallel, Ma was stepping back from his role as the organization’s Artistic Director. Silkroad had come of... View Details

Keywords: Managing Diverse Teams; Leadership Transitions; Global Innovation; Music; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Music Entertainment; Leadership; Transition

June 2020
Case

Big Hit Entertainment and Blockbuster Band BTS: K-Pop Goes Global

By: Anita Elberse and Lizzy Woodham

Bang Si-Hyuk (‘Hitman Bang’) is the founder and co-chief executive officer of Big Hit Entertainment, the company behind BTS, a ‘K-pop’ band that has found unparalleled success around the globe—a remarkable feat given that most of their songs are in Korean. It is March... View Details

Keywords: Music; Entertainment; Superstars; Talent; Talent Development; Labor Economics; General Management; Music Entertainment; Media; Talent and Talent Management; Labor; Contracts; Marketing; Strategy; Music Industry; Music Industry

February 2008 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Digital Music: From MP3 to Streaming

By: Willy Shih

The emergence of the MP3 file-based music format not only disrupted the market for portable audio players, it also impacted the business models of major record labels. Modularity, and the commoditization spillover enabled by modularity in the personal computer... View Details

Keywords: Recording; Digital Devices; Digital Media; Digital Music; Digital; Digital Economics; Consumer Electronics; Customer Value and Value Chain; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Music Industry; Music Industry; Music Industry; United States

10 May 2024
News

Grammy Nominee Bas Said AI Still Can’t Make Music That Evokes Feeling: ‘Ai Never Been to the Club.'

October 2014
Case

MCA Matsushita (A)

By: Andrew Wasynczuk and Karen Huang

Keywords: Music Corporation Of America; Matsushita Electric Industra; Negotiation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States; Japan

2014
Article

Attentional Rhythm: A Temporal Analogue of Object-Based Attention

By: Julian De Freitas, Brandon Liverence and Brian J. Scholl

The underlying units of attention are often discrete visual objects. Perhaps the clearest form of evidence for this is the same-object advantage: Following a spatial cue, responses are faster to probes occurring on the same object than they are to probes occurring on... View Details

Keywords: Object-based Attention; Rhythm; Music Perception; Auditory Perception

Read Now

July 2016
Case

Spotify

By: Anita Elberse and Alexandre de Pfyffer

In November 2014, Spotify's chief content officer Ken Parks learns that record label Big Machine Records has requested the immediate removal of superstar artist Taylor Swift's entire catalogue from Spotify's music streaming service. Is it time for Spotify to reconsider... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Marketing; Superstar; Music; Entertainment Marketing; Media; Digital Technology; Creative Industries; Product Portfolio Management; General Management; Management; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Open Source Distribution; Creativity; Music Entertainment; Product Marketing; Music Industry